Wheel-press.



l. A. MAHR.

WHEEL PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 26. 1914.

PatentedSept. 5,1916. v 2 SHEETS-SHEET l n.: Mmm: mens m., Hammam vynsnuysgon. u. c

l'. MAHR.

WHEEL PRESS. APPLICATION `FILED 1N.26, |914.

Patented Sept. 5, 1916.

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JULIUS A. MAI-IR, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO MAI-IR MANUFAC- TURIN Gr COMPANY, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATION OF MINNE- SOTA.

WHEEL-PRESS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented sept. 5, raie.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, JULrUs A. MAHR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lVheel-Fresses; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in car wheel presses, designed to either press the wheels onto their axles, or remove the saine therefrom, or both.

In a great manywheel presses now in use, it is necessary to use, in connection therewith, shimming blocks, in order to bring the wheels of diiierent diameters into axial alinement with the press. This mode of adjusting the car wheels, in respect to the press, takes a great deal of time, besides being very4 laborious, To expedite the work as much as possible, itis customary to sort the. wheels of a given diameter into groups, and to place or remove, on their axle, all the wheelsof one group separately, in order to reduce to a minimum the number of times the wheel support must be adjusted. This sorting of the wheels also takes a great deal of time, as well as shop room.

My present invention provides extremely simple and highly efficient mechanical means for quickly bringing the car wheels into axial alinement with the press, thereby making it possible to roll the wheels to the press just as they come, irrespective of their size. This adjustment of the car wheels may be accomplished, either by vertically adjusting the wheel rest with respect to the press, or in vertically adjusting the said press in respect to the wheel rest.

In the drawings, I have shown a stationary wheel press and a vertically adjustable wheel rest.

To the above end, generally stated, the invention'consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims. v

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings: Figure 1 is a front elevation of the improved wheel press, some parts being removed, and some parts being sectioned on the line x1 m1 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, with some parts sectioned on the line x2 x2 of Fig. 1, and some parts being broken away; and Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken on the line x3 m3 of Fig. 1.

The numeral 1 indicates a floor structure, having formed therein a shallow pit 2. On the bottom of this pitis mounted a heavy cast bed 3, on which rests the hydraulic cylinder and piston engine 4 and the tail-stock 5 of a wheel press. The cylinder 6 of the engine 4 is supported on a base 7 integrally formed therewith, which is rigidly bolted on one end of the bed 3. On the other end of said bed is bolted the tail-stock 5. Both the engine cylinder 6 and the tail-stock 5 have integrally formed therewith heavy, upwardly projecting lugs 8 and 9respectively, tied together by a heavy bar 10.

The piston rod 11 of the engine 4 has swiveled on its outer end, which works toward and from the tail-stock 5, a sockethead 12 having a lateral opening 13. Integrally formed with the tail-stock 5 is a pair of vertically spaced abutments 14 which project toward the'engine 4. When the car axle Y and car wheels Z are rolled to the press, the ends of said axles are adapted to pass, one through the opening 13 into the socket-head 12, and the other between the abutments 14. Beforey the said axle and wheels are rolled from the press, theI sockethead 12 is given a one-half rotation, to permit the adjacent end of the axle Y to pass therefrom through its opening 13.

For moving the axle Y endwise, toward the engine 4, is provided a relatively small cylinder and piston engine '15. This engine 15 is mounted on the tail-stock 5, with its piston rod 16 arranged to work in a horizontal recess 5a formed in said tail-stock, between the abutments 14. On the outer end of the piston rod 16 is secured a head 17. The piston rod 16 is normally held retracted by a heavy coiled spring 18'mounted thereon and compressed between the piston, not shown, of the engine 15 and a heavy block 19. This block 19 extendstransv'ersely Vinto the recess 5a, and is slidably mounted in upper and lower grooves 20 formed ,in

lthe tail-stock 5. A spacing block 21 is mounted on the piston rod 16 between its head 17 and the block 19. Both of the blocks 19 and 21 have, at their inner ends,

works.

notches, through which the piston rod 16 A filler block 22 is hinged to the socket-head 12, for movement into andv out of said head.

rlllhe above described parts may be of the standard or of any desiied construction.

Referring now to the vertically movable car wheel rest,#the numeral 23 indicates a pair of horizontally spaced platforms, rigidly connected by a central tie bar 24. rlhe platforms 23 are held against horizontal movement between the engine t and tailstock 5, but with freedom for vertical movement, by a depending pin 25 on the tailstock 5, on which slidably works a sleeve 26a formed on one end of the bar 24. Various means may be employed for vertically mov'- ing the platforms 23, and in the -drawings is shown a pair of laterally spaced, vertically extended wedge blocks 26 for each of said platforms. The wedge blocks 26 of each pair are tied together, at their upper, inner ends, by short tie bars 27, and the two pairs of wedge blocks 26 are tied together by a tie bar 27, integrally formed at its ends with the tie bars 27. The upper horizontal edges of the wedges 26 slidably work over the bottoms of the platforms 23, and are held in position, with respect thereto, by depending flanges on said platforms. The lower oblique edges of the Wedges 26 are slidably mounted on roller bearings 28 set oblique in respect to the horizontal. Each set of roller bearings 28 is journaled to and between a pair of laterally spaced guide plates 29 rigidly secured to the longitudinal, vertical faces of the bed 3,

As a convenient means for actuating the wedges 26, for raising and lowering the wheel rest, is provided a relatively small hydraulic cylinder and piston engine indicated, as an entirety, by the numeral 30. The rear end of this engine 30 is pivoted to a bearing 31 on the bed 3, to permit horizontal swinging movement thereof. The other end of the engine 30 is supported on the long end of a lever 32 by having its piston rod pivotally secured at 33 to the said lever. rllhe lever 32 is fulcrumed to a bearing 34C on the bed 3, and its intermediate portion rests upon and slidably works on said bed. A link 35 pivotally connects the intermediate portion of the lever 32 with one of the short tie bars 27. Obviously, by actuating the engine 30, simultaneous endwise movement is imparted to the wedges 26, for either raising or lowering the wheel rest.

rllhe pit 2 on each side of the bed 3 is covered by bridge or approach plates 36, over which the wheels Z are rolled to and from the press. The outer longitudinal edges of the bridge plates 36 rest in longitudinally extended seats in the floor structure 1, with their upper faces flush therewith, and the opposite edges of said bridge plate loosely rest on the platforms 23. By thus loosely mounting the bridge plates 36, the inner edges thereof are free to move up or down with the wheel rest. Filler strips 37 are placed between the inner edges of the bridge plates 36 and the tie bar 24. As shown in F ig. 1, the intermediate portion of the tie bar 272L is bent upward, to afford a support for the tie bar 211. Flanged wheel plates 38 are slidably mounted on the tie bar 24:.

The operation of the improved device may be briefly described as follows: 1n actual practice, track sections, not shown, will lead to and from the press. When placing car wheels on their axles, the same are loosely assembled and placed on the receiving track section. From the receiving track, the pairs of loosely assembled wheels are rolled over the adjacent bridge plate 36 onto the wheel plates 38, and into axial alinement with the piston rods 11 and 1G. However, before the wheels can be rolled into axial alinement with the piston rods 11 and 16, the wheel rest is moved to approximately the right height, in a manner previously described, to bring one end of the axle Y into the socket-head 12 and the other end thereof between the abutments 14. The exact vertical adjustment of the axle Y may thereafter be made. After the axle Y is properly alined with the pistons 11 and 16, the piston 11 is moved toward the tail-stock 5, at which time the block 22 must be in the socket-head 12. During this movement of the piston 11, its socket-head 12 is moved into engagement with the hub of the righthand ear wheel, and the left-hand wheel is moved into engagement with the abutments 14. A continued movement of the piston 11 will force both of the wheels part way onto their seats on the axle.

Before the right-hand wheel is completely seated, the adjacent end of the axle engages the block 22, thereby stopping further movement of said wheel on the axle. A gage, not shown,is then set, and the axle moved through the left-hand wheel the required distance to properly position said wheel with respect thereto. When the left-hand wheel is properly positioned, the head 17 and blocks 19 and 21 form an abutment for the adjacent end of the axle, to prevent further movement of the left-hand wheel on the axle. rlhe block 22 is now removed from the socket-head 12, and the right-hand wheel moved onto the axle the required distance. During the process of placing the wheels on the axle, said wheels have been moved laterally out of alinement with the track. To again move the wheels into alinement with the track, the engine 15 is actuated, and its piston rod head 17 engages the adjacent end of the axles,

and moves the same endwise toward the engine 4 until the wheels are alined with the track. During the lateral movement of the wheels on the wheel rest, the plates 38 slide freely therewith over the tie bar 24.

From the above description, it is evident that, by the use of the improved rest, the car wheels and axles may be handled very quickly and easily at the press. In case the press was made vertically adjustable, in-

-stead of the wheel rest, the track would run completely under the wheel press, so that the wheels could be rolled to and from the press.

The above described invention has, in actual usage, proven highly efficient for the purpose had in view. Y

What I claim is l. The combination with a wheel press, of a vertically adjustable wheel rest having an approach plate over which wheels may be rolled onto said wheel rest, and means for vertically adjusting said wheel rest to bring the wheels into alinement with the wheel press.

2. The combination with a wheel press, of a vertically adjustable wheel rest having an angularly adjustable bridge plate over which wheels are rolled to the wheel rest in the rdierent vertical adjustments thereof, and means for vertically adjusting said wheel rest to bring the wheels into alinement with the wheel press.

3. The combination with a wheel press, of a vertically adjustable wheel rest having angularly adjustable bridge plates over `alinement with the engine and tail stock.

5. The combination with a wheel press, of a wheel rest, means for vertically adjusting said wheel rest to bring the wheels in alinement with {said wheel press, and a bridge plate resting at its inner edge n said wheel rest with freedom for vertical adjustment therewith.

6. The combination with a wheel press, of a wheel rest, means for vertically adjusting said wheel rest to bring the wheels in alinement with said wheel press, and a pair 'of bridge plates resting at their inner edges on said wheel rest with freedom for vertical adjustment therewith.

In testimony whereof I aiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JULIUS A. MAHR.

Witnesses:

F. D. MERCHANT, HARRY D. KILGoRE,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

